Hello everybody. The purpose of this thread is mainly to inform the owners of guinea pigs and also ask for any advice you might have from earlier experiences with such problems. My little sister started growing some weird red mark in her skin a few days ago. As the time went past, it started to grow. We took her to the hospital and she was sent to a dermatologist for further analysation. After some exams and examination, we was told that it was probably a ringworm and the medic questioned about domestic animals. As soon as we told about the guinea pig, she said it might be the cause. We took both the pig and the dog to the veterinary and it was confirmed, the guinea pig developed it and as my little sister was taking care of it most of the times, she was infected.

Now, as a result, we have to clean the whole house with some products, use some kind of candies to kill the bugs and wash the pig everyday with some other product for three weeks.

We used wood based "stuff" to fill the floor of its cage and we was told it might be the case. Tomorrow I'll swing by an animal store and buy appropriate material.

Have you ever had similar problems? Cats seem to have this problem often as well.

(01-29-2014, 11:33 AM)Ricardo187 Wrote: Hello everybody. The purpose of this thread is mainly to inform the owners of guinea pigs and also ask for any advice you might have from earlier experiences with such problems. My little sister started growing some weird red mark in her skin a few days ago. As the time went past, it started to grow. We took her to the hospital and she was sent to a dermatologist for further analysation. After some exams and examination, we was told that it was probably a ringworm and the medic questioned about domestic animals. As soon as we told about the guinea pig, she said it might be the cause. We took both the pig and the dog to the veterinary and it was confirmed, the guinea pig developed it and as my little sister was taking care of it most of the times, she was infected.

Now, as a result, we have to clean the whole house with some products, use some kind of candies to kill the bugs and wash the pig everyday with some other product for three weeks.

We used wood based "stuff" to fill the floor of its cage and we was told it might be the case. Tomorrow I'll swing by an animal store and buy appropriate material.

Have you ever had similar problems? Cats seem to have this problem often as well.

Ringworm is a fungus and is closely related to athletes foot and jock itch.
You can get ringworm from other humans as well so be sure to check yourself frequently if you have had and skin to skin contact with your sister.

Your sister can also give you this fungus by touching objects. It can be spread by using towels, bedding and clothes that she has touched or rubbed against.

I would insist on the use of gloves in your household (especially when handling the Guinea Pig) to prevent further transmission of the ringworm.

I did not know you could get ringworm from a guinea pig! So sorry to hear about your pets and your little sister getting it. I hope they can get rid of it quickly! One of my friends had ringworm, she was so embarrassed by it. I felt bad for her, she didn't want to tell me what it was until I made her.I don't know much about ringworm but for some reason she had it for a full year... she had claimed she got it from bad water when she was showering? I do know, that my brother-in-law caught a ringworm infection from petting their family dog, Toby. Toby never had his shots & he was always running around outside. Who knows what he got into. I had petted him before too, but I didn't catch it, weird.

Often, children get ringworm from another child at school or on the playground. The likelihood of the guinea pig contracting it some how is not very much, since it was just home in its guinea pig cage. It is much more likely that the child contracted it from another child somewhere, and then gave it to the guinea pig while she was playing with it.
Even the dog might have been in contact with another animal and caught it, but it is very unlikely that the guinea pig did, since they don't go anywhere that they could catch it from another person or animal.

I will NEVER forget the first time I had ringworm. I was in the 4th grade getting ready to go to the show with my friend, Billy.

My sister or mom was standing behind me, I remember I had a plaid blouse on, whoever was behind me noticed I had one on the back of my neck. I wore my hair really short so it was between the top of my collar, and below my hairline.

She knew what it was, said " You have ringworm on your neck" I freaked out, I thought a ringworm was a real worm! (I don't do worms or snakes)
I started crying because this was gona ruin my "big date" She just put some medicine on it and covered it with a band aid. I don't remember if it took more than that to get rid of it or not.